~ Musings on weather and science

Hot Wednesday, Cooler Weekend… And What’s the Difference Between Isolated and Scattered?

While it likely won’t be a record day Wednesday, the high temperatures will certainly be mid-summer-plus as the ridge of high pressure maxes out over us. High temperatures will reach the mid-90s Wednesday and will slowly fall back as we go into the weekend , dropping to the low 90s Thursday, the upper 80s Friday and then into the low 80s and upper 70s over the weekend as a low pressure center backs its way into the region from the northeast. Depending on exactly where the low sets up, we could see an isolated shower or two late in the weekend, but generally speaking the outlook is dry.

Jill asks: “Can you explain to me the difference in “Isolated” and “Scattered” Thunderstorms in the weather forecasts? I know what the 2 words mean but not how they apply to where thunderstorms are expected to appear.”

Actually, neither implies where they might occur, it only implies how likely it is you will see one. Isolated means you have about a 10-15% chance of getting under one, whereas scattered means about 20-50% of the region will have a thunderstorm. In addition, scattered suggests there will be several groups of showers going on at the same time, whereas isolated showers tend to be loners, with no or few neighbors.